The Transfer of Power

Yesterday was a monumental day in world politics. The UK has a new Prime Minister. That's right- as torrential rains and flooding continued to wreak havoc on the north of England, all eyes were on Westminster, where with very little ceremony, Tony Blair handed over the reins to Gordon Brown. Here's how it happened:

At noon, Tony Blair made his way to the House of Commons for his last Prime Minister's Questions. This is normally a time for ministers to ask questions and challenge the Prime Minister and then the Prime Minister gets to respond to each person. Yesterday, however, most of them just congratulated him on his ten years of service and patted him on the back. The highlight was when someone I don't know challenged Mr. Blair on something to do with the EU. (I'm sorry I can't be more specific, but it isn't easy to understand them with all the cheering and jeering going on in the background.) In response, Mr. Blair stood up and said something like, "I just don't think I'll be bothered with that one" and sat back down. Oh what fun!

After his standing ovation at the House of Commons, Mr. Blair made his way to the palace where he formally offered his resignation to the Queen. At that moment, there was NO PRIME MINISTER!!! Since it is always at this crucial moment when bad guys strike in film and television, I waited along with the rest of the country with baited breath as Gordon Brown waited for his call from the Queen. He received it and rushed to the palace, where the Queen apparently asked him to form a new government. He was in there for almost an hour as we all sat on the edge of our seats waiting and hoping he would emerge before anything terrible happened. Finally, he did emerge and we were all safe again. Phew! Today he has done what the Queen asked and formed a new government- shuffling everyone around like a Vegas black jack dealer. I look forward to seeing if it makes any difference at all.

A Substitute Guest Blog

Susie and Geoff just left after a wonderful, but short, visit. Unfortunately for you, we kept them too busy to write a blog. So, I thought I'd give you a quick update/rundown of their visit. Susie arrived on Wednesday. Geoff flew in Saturday morning. The weather turned grey and rainy (aka British) Friday and we spent a lot of time in galleries and museums. I think they may have had enough art to last a month or so!

The highlight of the visit, however, was definitely Saturday night, when we attended a performance of The Lord of The Rings, the musical. Yes, you read that right! "How long was it?" You ask? They managed to trim it down to 3 hours, while doing their best to keep every plot element. It should have been called "The Lord of the Rings: abridged." In John's words, "because they attempted to keep every plot element, nothing was given much importance and you didn't really feel invested." (he said it much better than that!) We didn't think the music was that great and the men sounded more like rock singers than musical singers, but it was definitely worth seeing for the design alone. The set and costume design was phenomenal. The stage has multiple revolves and every piece of the stage can move up and down independently from the rest. They also use puppetry and stilts and everything you can think of to use in a show. It was a wonder to watch! In spite of the terrible heat (we were up in the highest balcony,) I would recommend seeing it if you can get the cheap seats.

Yesterday, while I was in rehearsal, John took Susie and Geoff all over London- hitting all the attractions we had missed- and then we had a nice pub dinner followed by rousing games of Anagram and Shout About Movies.

It was great to see Susie and get to know Geoff. We were sad to see them go. They are now headed to Paris and Brussels for a few more days.

In other news- my show opens one week from tomorrow. YAY! And John isn't feeling well, so he came home early and is napping.

We got Icky Thumped!

Trivia Question #2: What was the score of the Eagle's first game?
a) 21-3
b) 56-0
c) 31-17
d) 56-14

The O2 Wireless festival was amazing. We met Steve at a pub called The Swan by Hyde Park. We sat outside enjoying the fine British weather and waited for the opportune time to collect our tickets and make our grand entrance.

After a very confusing ticket queue we finally entered the fair and quickly oriented ourselves to the closest Beer, Toilets, and First Aid stand (more for my benefit as I'm the non-lethal accident magnet). We wandered around a bit until deciding to sit by the sound booth. It is my opinion that the best sound is next to the booth.

Modest Mouse did not play. Disappointing, but we quickly got over it when realized how awesome Satellite Party is. Perry knows his audience and played at least 5 Jane's Addiction songs. It was also a real party on stage with three bikini clad dancing girls who took turns singing and playing various instruments. All in all a fantastic time!

Queens of the Stone Age - or QOFTSA as they were abbreviated on all documentation which caused a great deal of consternation on our parts - WHO IS QOFTSA? Jamie finally figured it out and we all felt very stupid - were good. Steve and I decided to reclaim our youth by running into the pit towards the end of their set. All went well until I was 3 rows of sweaty flesh from the stage and I lost Steve.

I decided to make the best of it and wait until The White Stripes started so I could be that close to Jack and Meg. When I finally made an effort to get back to Jamie I discovered that I was caught up in a tide of humans. I would make it 6 rows and get pushed back right to the spot from where I started. I then realized that the only way to go out was to go up. I turned to guys behind me and pointed up in the air. After some wild gesticulation a group of well intentioned drunks proceeded to almost drop me on my head. Some bright fellow figured out that you should lift humans by the torso and sorted them out and got me above the plane of sweaty heads. I had an excellent view of Jack as I crowd surfed my way to the front. I was dragged down in front of the barriers by the security staff and made my escape.

I made it back to Jamie and Steve just in time - they were going to check the first aid tent for my mangled body. After brief rejoicing we then turned our attention to the job at hand - getting our faces melted off by the Stripes.

What a great time. Thanks again Jamie!

Answer to Eagles' Trivia: b) 56-0 The Eagles lost to the New York Giants on Oct. 15, 1933.

Mac is Back and Black Velvet Revolver

Donovan McNabb is practicing in mini-cap. For some reason that's gotten me incredibly excited about this season. Excited and depressed - I am a Philadelphia fan.

I am so excited, I am inspired to check out my Philly Sports Challenge: Eagles Edition quiz book. I am quite surprised to learn that I know most of the answers to "Depressing Eagles: the 30's" - for example, I knew Hank Reese kicked the most field goals in the 30's. How, I have no idea. So until I get bored, I'll pick an Eagles Trivia question and post it at the beginning of the blog and put the answer at the end.

Here's number one:
Which of the following Eagles players was not an attorney when not playing football (awkwardly worded, but whatever):
a) Jack Roberts
b) Henry O'Boyle
c) Lee Woodruff
d) Joe Kresky

In other news (and a tense change) I saw Velvet Revolver in concert last Tuesday at the Hammersmith Apollo. It was fun. You know the band - its Slash, Duff, and Matt from GNR and Scott Weiland from STP. They have a couple songs on the radio that are rocking, but the best songs of the evening were the Guns N' Roses and STP covers.

It was comical to watch Slash and Scott compete for focus on stage. Each one believed they were the main event. Scott whirled his way around the stage in a pale Mick Jagger impersonation often screaming into a megaphone pointed at a microphone (symbolic juxtaposition or cheap effects?) whilst Slash gyrated against his guitar cum phallus in the faces of the poor sods smashed up against the stage. Of course, anyone who knows GNR knows that the real star is Duff, cause all the chicks into GNR digg Duff. Man I miss playing Dig Dug.

Tomorrow I get to see Modest Mouse, Satellite Party (Perry Farrell's new project), Queens of the Stone Age, and, and, AND!!! the White Stripes. This of course is due to the ticket I received as my 30th Birthday present from the lovely Mrs. Ramsburg the Younger (until next fall- YAY Caitie and Mike!).

The answer to today's Eagles' Trivia:
a) Jack Roberts - the book doesn't say what profession Jack Roberts used to support his football habit.

The Ramsburg Family Vacation: What did we do? We made relaxing!

Our vacation was awesome. I apologize, but this is a long post. Why not print it out and take it to the john with you?

ROME

It started off with a 4 hour delay at Heathrow. We sat for about an hour in the heat of an non air-conditioned cabin before we were asked to deplane. I've never had to deplane before. After a while we were allowed to board the aircraft again. Turns out the compressed air truck was busted and couldn't start the engines and we had to wait for a new truck to drive by - however we missed our takeoff slot and had to wait to be squeezed in. Jamie and I were told all of this by our seat mate Dave from New Zealand. He too was heading to Rome for a cruise (25 Days, La ti da!). We made it to our hotel room in Rome at 1 AM and made dinner out of mini-bar beer and bedtime chocolates.

Jamie and I booked ourselves on the bus tour of the city so we could make sure we saw all of the sights of Rome. There were cats everywhere! You may know this, but legend has it that Cleopatra gave Caesar cats as a gift. He turned out to be allergic and let them go- the first cats in Rome.

Mike and Caitie arrived that afternoon - we banged around the city looking for the TREVI fountain and the Spanish steps. We ate dinner at Alfredo's - The best Fettuccine Alfredo we've ever had! JFK, Sylvester Stalone, and Ernest Borgnine have all eaten there - I saw the pictures on the wall. We went back to the Spanish Steps to enjoy some gelatto and a romantic Roman night. Turns out the Spanish steps are more of a pickup place for drunk teenagers.

The next morning we met Mike and Caitie at the train station and found out that they got engaged that morning! What a way to start the week!

COSTA CONCORDIA



Holy crap! I knew cruise liners were floating hotels, but this takes the cake. Approximately 12 separate bar areas, a huge lobby reminiscent of the dining room on The Poseidon, an on board art gallery, and 4 different restaurants, casino, and a video game room (btw - 2nd player on Tekken's buttons are screwed) are available for whiling away the short time between ports. The top decks included 4 (really small) swimming pools, hot tubs, and a water slide. One of the decks had a retractable roof so you could hang out indoors in crappy weather. In an odd design choice, you could also eat your breakfast amongst the early bathers. To describe the decor, I'll paraphrase my father - "It looks like South Philly threw up on the walls"
A Ceiling - the lights changed colors.


There were several musicians scattered around the bars to provide what was mainly background music. We listened to wonderful keyboard drum machines, a beautiful violin and piano duo, and our personal favorites - the singing bar tender and waiter at the Pub Classico Dublino. I've never heard From Russia From Love sung live, or so often.

Ports of Call:
Savona
We had a half day in the Italian Rivera. Unfortunately for Savona, all the shops were closed so we could not spend the euros burning holes in our pockets. It was a drab and dreary day - we visited the ruins of a fort and a flea market.

Barcelona

Barcelona was also a half day, but what a different experience! We loved Barcelona. We saw so many different things walking along La Rambla: street performers, artists, a naked man with interesting piercings, pet vendors (birds/rabbits) - now that I think about it they could be fresh dinner vendors, tons of magazine stalls (20 euro worth of Spanish wedding magazines? GIRLS!) We had a lovely lunch in an out of the way courtyard, replete with jugglers, violinists, and a stumbling heroin addict. Jamie and I can't wait to go back - so far Spain is definitely our favorite continental European destination.

Mallorca

If you cruise into Mallorca, pre-book a tour/excursion on Mallorca. Otherwise you get screwed and end up walking for 2 miles to have espresso overlooking a marina and get a big open sore from your flip-flops. However, the conversation more than made up for the hike. We retreated to the top deck of the ship to enjoy the sun which was fantastic.

Tunisia
Tunis was great - Mom actually made it out on the tour with us. We had a crazy-lingual tour guide who phrased his commentary in question form e.g. "How many people live in Tunis? Very easy to answer - 400,000" and then repeated in German for the 3 families who got on our English tour by accident. We saw ruins of Carthage - "How many people did the Baths hold? 4,000 a day", and a museum dedicated to mosaics. We also got to "shop" in a market in a picturesque village. We ran the gauntlet of sellers hawking their factory hand made wares and found the only woman who owned her own stall and went crazy shopping - YAY FEMINISM! All of the vendors thought Jamie was Spanish, but called to her English - "Hola, Spanish Lady!" They'd look at me and either speak French or English. Which is good since I barely speak both. I really liked Tunisia - it also marked the first time I've been to Africa.
Warning sign at Carthage, and Mike and Caitie "shopping"


Malta

We were victims of an unscrupulous cabbie who convinced us he knew of a much better beach than the one to which we paid to go (in advance at the tourism stall). We were deposited around the corner from said "beauty sand beach" and discovered it was a small gross harbour. Super Dad to the rescue - after a brief exploration he discovered a fancy pool club (infinity pool overlooking the Mediterranean sea) and we lounged all day. We took a different cab back to the ship. On the way we passed our bad cabbie who flagged us down and wanted to know why we didn't wait for him to drive us back. Caitie says, "You ripped us off, SIR!" and away we went. Apparently our new cabbie knew the bad cabbie and was very upset that he tricked us. I liked the new cabbie. Also, the ride back was half as much as the ride there.
Super Dad takes a break-



Palermo
Palermo seemed like it would be cool if the stores were open and it weren't raining. After some searching and making a teenage boy waiter cry, we found a fantastic pizza joint. I ate a calzone the size of my head and was very happy. We then found an open air meat and sea food market which was really cool, if stinky.

Cruise Entertainment
There was a beautiful theatre on board. We caught 3 performances - a Flamenco dance troupe, a famous Italian singer (who covered the Scissor Sisters), and a Magician. However, they paled in comparison to the entertainment troupe.

Kudos to the cruise entertainment team. Not only can they speak English, Italian, French, and Spanish, they are up early assisting with disembarkation and tours, encouraging afternoon games, run the audience participatory evening entertainment, and then get people to go disco dancing until 2 AM. Unfortunately for them, adults have a hard time getting sexy on the dance floor when there are 5 year olds spinning around on said dance floor until 1 am. Except for creepy sleeveless guy who apparently brought his favorite escort with him on the cruise.

Mike and I started out by participating in the Circus on Sunday night. The Circus consisted of getting 4 guests to wear silly wigs and make a weird human support bed.


Mike and I signed up for karaoke only to learn that it was a tournament and we were singing the a) only English song b) only non ballad. They loved us, mainly because Mike ran around in a circle while singing "baby light my fire!" as I made sexy poses. We made friends with the guy dressed up as spiderman (they wore different themed costumes every night - seems karaoke and super heroes go hand in hand). Mike's favorite part was when the lead guy told us we were great, and we should believe him because he is Superman and I retorted, "You're not Superman, you're Mr. Incredible" which was true.


We ended up spectating the remaining entertainment sessions once we realized everything was designed to make people laugh at you - in good fun of course, but I didn't want to waste my superior talents. Rock and Roll night they got people to dress up like John Travolta and Olivia Newton John and made them fall over during the dance moves (upsetting one older bigger lady). Sexy Night the girls were wearing bunny costumes and the guys in Chip N Dale outfits. The games were very explicit - the ladies had to get a racquetball up one pant leg and down the other, crossing over the gentleman's junk. The next game involved popping balloons held over various anatomies - the balloons cunningly removed at the last minute to create awkward situations. The final game consisted of blind folding the gentlemen, placing a bottle of water between their thighs and making them find their partner and - for lack of a better word - hump the water into a glass held in the lady's lap. We also enjoyed 70's night, which was more like 90's night with some 70's music and peace head bands. Lots of fluorescent colors.

The best part of the entertainment team's repertoire was the whistle and bouncy techno dance beat that was the basis of their interludes. "HUP HUP HUP HUP"

Dining on the Costa Concordia

Breakfast and Lunch were mainly buffet affairs - you could sit by the indoor/outdoor pool, or take your chances in the free for all that was the official buffet seating area. I think we missed the memo that said you could cut in front of people in the buffet line as long as you were going to take 5 minutes trying to pick up the last slice of pizza with the tongs.

Dinner was fantastic - we sat at table 244 in the Milano Restaurant served by Martin and Mr. Saitdit. Martin proved that he was the best waiter on that ship night after night - mainly by his attentiveness and Parmesan cheese application flair. He would flip a spoonful of cheese at your plate - he was batting .780 at the end of the cruise. Unfortunately Jamie's lap was the target of the other .220. Mr. Saitdit was always so happy and excited to be working there, it would improve your mood just to watch him pour you more wine. We had two gala nights where we wore suits and the ladies wore beautiful dresses. Our last night was Italia night - it culminated in the waiters dancing with all of the ladies and starting a restaurant wide conga line to the sounds of Vallero.


Our Cabins
Mike and Caitie had a cabin adjacent to ours which made meeting for events and meals easy. We each had an exterior room with private balcony. Mom and Dad had suite, which means they had a butler at their disposal. Mom and Jorge hit it off big time. Jorge would screen calls for her, "Mrs. Sandi is making relaxing outside, may I take a message?", scrounge up plates of snacks, and provide companionship as she rested her leg.

Sunset from our balcony


I could go on and on, but this post is way too long as it is. It was an amazing trip, and one that we'll all remember forever. Can't wait for next year's!

CIAO.